Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Animation
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-21
2001-05-15
Vo, Cliff N. (Department: 2772)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Animation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06232988
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to systems and methods for creating objects for use on a computer system, and, more particularly, to conversion systems that produce objects for display and manipulation by an end user of the computer system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Animations historically have been based on a rapidly displayed series of drawings or images, which produce the appearance of one image or scene changing or moving. The simplest approach involves thumbing through a stack of drawings, which can produce a simple animation effect lasting a second or two. Animations have long been produced as film-based movies, such as cartoons based on a sequence of drawings, which are captured as frames on the film. Generally, an animation can be termed a time-based media, in which a series of frames are displayed in sequence over a period of time, resulting in the animated effect of one moving image. The time allowed for the display of each separate frame is critical in determining the rate of display, thus affecting the speed with which the animated image or scene appears to change or move.
Each animation usually includes a background or scene, and one or more components of interest that appear to move in front of the background. A component is a graphic image of an identifiable entity in the time-based media. For example, if the animation is of a deer running through a forest, then the background is the forest, and the component of interest is the deer.
Computer systems have long provided software programs that create and display moving graphic images or animations on the computer screen. On the computer, the image is stored as electronic data, usually as a software graphic file or bitmap of an image. Typically, these software programs provide a way to create and link a series of software graphic images that can be displayed in a sequence of frames to produce an animation. These software programs may be provided as several separate programs, or may be combined as one animation creation, editing, and display application.
For most types of animation, a single frame can usually be extracted without great difficulty. However, the result is a static image of an entire scene. For example, if the animation is of an deer running through a forest, a frame can be extracted that shows the whole frame of a deer frozen in motion against the background of the forest.
One objective of the present invention is to extract a component from a time-based media as a graphic object, separate from the original media, that can be displayed and modified separately. Thus, for the example given above, the objective is to extract the animated deer from the animation as a separate component that can be displayed as a separate animated graphic object on a computer system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention achieves the above objective by providing systems and methods for converting a component in a time-based component media (TBCM) into a graphic object that may be displayed, manipulated, and modified on a computer system separately from any other components or background in the TBCM.
Typically, the TBCM includes the components as frames in one or more channels. A channel is a series of frames that may be allocated to one component, although this is not required. A frame that includes a component of interest is termed a “component frame.”
In one embodiment, the invention includes a memory and a conversion controller in communication with said memory. The memory includes an object data structure, which includes a bitmap entry. The conversion controller determines one or more selected component frames from the TBCM, based on a selected channel and time in the TBCM. The conversion controller converts one or more selected component frames to one or more bitmaps that are stored in the bitmap entry in the object data structure.
In a further aspect of the invention, the object data structure also includes conversion information associated with the one or more bitmaps. The conversion information is stored in the object data structure by the conversion controller. The conversion information is related to the channel and time of the one or more selected component frames in the TBCM.
In one embodiment, the invention is understood as a method for converting components in a TBCM into separate graphic objects. The method includes selecting one or more component frames corresponding to a specific channel and time in the TBCM, converting one or more selected component frames to one or more bitmaps, and storing the bitmaps in one or more bitmap entries in an object data structure.
In one aspect, the method additionally includes the step of storing, in association with the bitmap entry in the object data structure, conversion information regarding the specific channel and time of the selected component frames in the TBCM.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5572651 (1996-11-01), Weber et al.
patent: 5892507 (1999-04-01), Moorby et al.
Barlow Steven
Kyrala Lawrence B.
Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault LLP
Thingworld.com, LLC
Vo Cliff N.
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